RoGame ScaleMaster 3.0 for Mac OS X Released

New York-based RoGame Software announces the release of ScaleMaster 3.0  for Mac OS X. A good understanding of scales is of particular importance  to improvising musicians and song-writers. ScaleMaster addresses the  topic in a systematic fashion helping with classification, construction and spelling in all common clefs. It  features virtual banjo, bass, guitar, mandolin and piano instruments,  scale ratings for the the over 200 listed scales, a chord matching  utility, lookup history and much more.

Scales are one of the most important ingredients in music today.  Nevertheless musicians sometimes have a more than ambivalent  relationship with them. That may be partially due to the rather  stringent practice methods involving scales as known from classical music. There is, however, much more to scales and with ScaleMaster for  Mac OS X improvising musicians and song-writers now have a valuable tool  to start exploring and to incorporate into their music the many  different flavors scales can provide.

Version 3.0 brings a somewhat larger display that now shows 12 frets at a  time and close to 5 octaves on the piano. For stringed instruments  (banjo, bass guitar and mandolin) a direct positioning popup menu has  been introduced that allows to jump to positions 1 through 12 directly. Otherwise the layout has become a little more  compact. Instead of four directional modes ScaleMaster 3.0 always  presents scales in ascending as well as in descending mode. A new  clickable root control in the fashion of the circle of fifths allows single click access to the most commonly used root notes. The  menu, toolbar and context menus for root selection, however, can still  be used to select any of the less common root notes like B#.

One of the bigger additions in ScaleMaster 3.0 is the banjo instrument.  Like all other instruments (bass, guitar, piano and mandolin) the banjo  can be position shifted and has its own high-quality samples for  playback. A main characteristic of the banjo is that there are differently stringed versions of the instrument.  ScaleMaster supports 4-stringed and 5-stringed banjos. And - not to  disappoint - the instrument in all configurations is left-hand  compatible via switch in the Preferences window.

The bass instrument underwent some reconstruction as well and as a main  new feature is now also compatible with different string sets.  ScaleMaster 3.0 supports 4-stringed, 5-stringed and 6-stringed basses in  left- or right-handed modes. String sets in ScaleMaster 3.0 are selected in the new Tunings window that is available to all  stringed instruments (banjo, bass, guitar and mandolin). All common  tunings including open tunings, alternate tunings and custom tunings are  included for each of these instruments.

Another new feature in ScaleMaster 3.0 is the History view which is  accessible via menu command or toolbar button. The history view lists  the last 16 displayed scales by order, name and rating. This can be a  valuable tool for comparisons of similar scales for example. In itself the history view does not create history, so tapping  through the last sixteen scales does not upset the order. For starting a  new comparison from scratch the view history can also be cleared.

Other new features in ScaleMaster 3.0 include improved compatibility  with Mac OS 10.8 (Mountain Lion), full hi-res graphic support for  Retina® and additional localizations into Danish and Norwegian. Upgrades  to version 3.0 are free to all registered users. ScaleMaster 3.0 is available now on the App Store for $9.99 only until  January 2013.

Features:

- intuitive interface

- 211 scale types

- 2 different scale views

- virtual banjo, bass, guitar, mandolin and piano instruments

- presets for common all common banjo, bass, guitar and mandolin tunings

- alto, bass, tenor and treble clefs

- adjustable positions for all instruments

- adjustable tuning for all string instruments

- support for 4 and 5 string banjo

- s upport for 4, 5 and 6 string bass

- semitone indicators

- scale rating

- scale type indicator

- support for left-handed players

- chord/scale matching

- displays note names, scale index or degree

- adjustable playback directions

- history View

- localized help

- high quality banjo, bass, guitar, mandolin and piano samples

- global transposition for horn players

- hi-res graphic support for Retina®

- Academic discounts available

- Localized into Chinese, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German,  Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish

Minimum Requirements:

• Mac OS 10.6.6 or later

• 64-bit processor

• 28.9 MB RAM

Pricing and Availability:

ScaleMaster for Mac OS X costs $9.99 USD (or equivalent amount in other  currencies) and is available worldwide exclusively through the Mac App  Store in the Music category. Educational discounts as well as a limited  number of teacher copies are available.

Links:

RoGame Software         http://www.rogame.com/

Product URL             http://mac.rogame.com/pages/ScaleMaster.html

Mac App Store Link      http://itunes.com/mac/rogamesoftware/scalemaster